


Break

by Cocopops1995



Series: 300 Followers Special [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Broken Bones, Concussions, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Poor Keith, Whump, keith and krolia are awkward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14315691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocopops1995/pseuds/Cocopops1995
Summary: Keith and Krolia run into a quintessence enhanced Galra soldier. Things do not go well for either of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rangergirl3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/gifts).



Keith had fought long and hard, the trail of downed Galra warrior - robotic and fleshly - was proof enough of that. Of course he’d had help from a fellow Blade - who also happened to be his mom, because apparently ‘never leaving him again’ also meant going with him on every mission he was assigned now. At first he’d been annoyed at that, but it turns out they actually make a pretty good team, so he guessed he couldn’t complain about her accompanying him everywhere - much. Even Kolivan grudgingly had to admit that they worked well together and allow Krolia to accompany Keith on his missions, despite his misgivings over both of their abilities to reign in their emotions. Like mother, like son, apparently. 

 

But now his mother lay unconscious on the floor behind him, knocked out by the behemoth of a Galra that Keith was currently facing down. He’d come out of nowhere, taking Krolia completely by surprise and slamming her into a wall before either of them could react. 

 

Keith had attacked him with a cry of rage after his mother went down and had been holding his own quite well. The soldier, who was big for a Galra to start with, had two canisters filled with a glowing liquid that looked a lot like harvested quintessence on his back. Just when it looked liked Keith was beginning to gain ground on him, the soldier had somehow emptied those canisters into himself, making him bigger, stronger, and faster - kind of like that one Batman villain, Bane. Keith remembered Shiro, Pidge, and Lane talking about the prison warden on Beta Traz that had done the same thing. He wondered if it was the same Galra, or a different one with the same enhancements.

 

Whatever the case, things had started going badly for Keith from the moment the big Galra turned himself into a giant. 

 

He took a swung a huge fist at Keith, which he only barely managed to dodge. He was tired. It felt like he’d been fighting this giant for hours now. His lungs screamed, his arms and legs trembled, and he definitely had a busted rib or two. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get a good enough hit on the giant, and while the giant now seemed to have endless reserves of energy, Keith could feel that he was being pushed past his limits. He’d reached that same level of exhaustion he had during the Trials. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up.

 

But he couldn’t give up. Team Voltron was on another part of the warship with Lotor, setting explosives to take it out. He needed to keep this behemoth busy long enough for them to finish. And he needed to protect his mom. He’d only just started to get to know her. There was no way he would let anybody - or thing - get in the way of getting to know her more.

 

He just barely dodged another blow when he felt a tug in the back of his mind. The same tug he’d been feeling more and more often lately, especially when he was in trouble. The tug felt suspiciously like Red, but that was impossible. Lance was Red’s paladin now, Keith should not be feeling the lion in the back of his head. 

 

The tugging was stronger than usual and it was enough to distract him from the fight for a moment. The Galra behemoth was quick to take advantage of that distraction, and before Keith knew it, he was flying across the room. His head cracked against the wall he was flug into, and for a terrifying few moments, his vision went white.

 

He fell to the ground in a daze, blinking furiously to get his vision back. It came back slowly, long enough for Keith to become aware of all the places where he hurt. His head was pounding now, and his already busted ribs were screaming. When his vision finally did come back, it was just in time to see two giant Galra soldiers -  _ when had another one joined the fight? _ \- loom over him. They reached down and grabbed his ankle. Belatedly, he realised that there weren’t two of them, he was just seeing double. 

 

The giant plucked Keith off the ground, causing his vision to swim wildly, and spikes of pain to shoot into his head. He tried to slash at the Galra with his Marmora Blade, which he had managed to hang on to when he was thrown across the room, but his coordination was off and he swung wide. The giant Galra laughed at him and then slammed him back down into the ground again. 

 

He cried out in pain as every one of his injuries where aggravated. The Galra laughed again. 

 

“Such a tiny little bug.” It grumbled, though Keith could barely make out the words, “To think the Blade of Marmora would let such a weakling into their rants. Disgusting.”

 

Keith tried to roll over, to try to push himself up. He needed to get up. He needed to fight. To protect… protect…

 

His thoughts and movements were cut off by the giant Galra putting his foot on Keith’s right arm. His blade was still in his right hand, so he couldn’t even try to stab the soldier’s foot.

 

He giant grinned cruelly down at Keith, and began to press his foot down harder onto Keith’s arm. 

 

Keith cried out as the pressure on his forearm increased painfully. He reached over with his other hand and tried feebly to push the foot off him. But he was too weak. The Galra merely laughed at his useless attempts and pressed down harder. 

 

The pain momentarily cleared his the fog in his head enough for him to realise that if he didn’t get this guy off his arm, his arm was going to -

 

There was a sickening snap as the bones in Keith’s arm gave in under the pressure. His arm exploded in pain and Keith  _ screamed.  _ Pain lanced up his arm into his shoulder and down into his fingers. 

 

The giant above him laughed again, obviously enjoying the sound of Keith's screams, and pressed down harder, digging his foot into Keith’s arm. 

 

Keith couldn’t do anything but scream as the broken and crushed bones in his arm were ground together. The pain overwhelmed him and it was all he could focus on. 

 

Suddenly the weight of the giant on his arm disappeared, but with the return of blood flow came even more pain and Keith screamed again. 

 

For what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours, all Keith was aware of was the pain. It was everywhere. His head, his arm, his ribs were the worst, all pounding at the same rate and tempo, but the rest of his body hurt too. His muscles were stiff and he was bruised all over. Everything hurt and he just wanted it to stop. 

 

He was tired - so, so tired. Maybe if he just went to sleep, he could escape the pain…

 

He was just beginning to doze off when he felt hands on him. Touching his shoulder, sliding under his head. His eyes shot open in fear. The giant Galra was back. He wanted to hurt Keith more. Keith had to get away but he couldn’t, everything hurt too much. 

 

“Keith, it’s okay. It’s me, it’s Pidge.”

 

His brain struggled to process the words, but he knew that voice. That was a friendly voice. Then his eyes landed on the source of the voice and it wasn’t a huge Galra. It was much, much to small. And green. His brain finally understood the words that had been spoken as he recognised the source of the voice as Pidge. Although there were also two of her. 

 

“Pidge.” he said, or at least tried to, but his tongue was heavy and lips were clumsy and what came out of his mouth was more of a pained groan than Pidge’s name. 

 

“Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you now. Nothing’s gonna happen to you. We’re gonna get you out of here and into a pid soon. Just hold on a little longer.” Pidge said, and now that he was focusing on her instead of the pain, his brain had a bit of an easier time keeping up with her words. “I’m just gonna move so that I can hold your head in my lap, okay? That way you’ll be more comfortable, and I’ll be able to do something about that nasty gash.”

 

Her words spend up as she spoke, she was obviously anxious about something, and although he was able to follow what she said when she spoke at a normal rate, he couldn’t follow at all when she spoke so fast. So instead he just watched in confusion as her head slowly moved from being over him on the side, to being over him from above, so that he was looking at her face(s) upside down. 

 

He wanted to ask what she was doing, but that felt like too many words for him to handle right now. So instead he focused on saying the other thing that was on his mind: “My head hurts.” The words were slurred and wrong, and more of a pained whimper than anything else, but at least they sounded more like words than his previous attempt at speech had, so he counted it as a win.

 

“I know it does. We’ll get you to a pod soon. Just try to stay awake until then, okay? It’s important that you stay awake.” Pidge answered.

 

Keith frowned. He was so tired, though. He didn’t know if he’d be able to stay awake much longer. His whole body still hurt, his arm was still on fire, and his head was still pounding, but the tiredness seemed to be taking over all of that. And sleep would have been so much better than all this pain… 

 

“Keith, hey!” There was a gentle tapping on his cheek and he opened his eyes - he hadn’t even realised that they’d closed to be honest. “I mean it, stay awake!”

 

He honestly didn’t think he’d be able to for much longer, but it seemed really important to Pidge that he did, so he would try. Besides he couldn’t give up, right? It was important that he didn’t give up… there was someone… someone he had to protect… who…?

 

He sucked in a ragged gasp and tried to push himself up, but the movement sent waves of pain through all of him, but especially his head and broken arm, and he dropped back down with a pained moan. 

 

“Hey, calm down. You really shouldn’t move.” Pidge said. “What’s wrong?”

 

Keith put all his focus into getting his next words out as clearly as he could. “Mom… My mom… Where…?” it was becoming more difficult to talk, but he had to make sure she was okay.

 

Pidge’s eyes went wide and sad. “Oh… your mom’s not here, Keith. I’m sorry.” 

 

But that couldn’t be right, his mom was right over there on the other side of the room, wasn’t she? His brain was muddled and confused, but he remembered that she  _ was  _ there.

 

“No… K-Krolia. My mom. Where?” 

 

“I’m right here, Keith.” his mom’s voice answers and a moment later her face shows up in his field of vision. 

 

Pidge’s face takes on a look of confusion as she looks back and forth between Keith and his mom.

 

Belatedly, Keith remembered that he hadn’t gotten a chance to introduce his mom to his friends yet. 

 

“Pidge!” Another voice pops up. This one is loud and sends spikes of pain into his brain with every word, “Allura and Shiro have got that big guy. We need to get Keith and his friend out of - holy crap, is that blood?!”

 

Keith groaned as the increased volume hurt his head even more. 

 

“No, Lance.” Pidge snapped in reply, “He just decided to paint his whole face red.”

 

Keith wondered who she was talking about, and why that person would paint his whole face red at a time like this. 

 

“Okay, yeesh, don’t bite my head off.” Lance answered, his voice pitched high.

 

“Then don’t ask stupid questions!” Pidge snapped back. 

 

Keith wondered why she needed to yell so much when Lance was obviously right there.

 

“Hush.” his mother’s voice cut in, low but firm. “Neither of you are helping the situation by arguing.”

 

“She’s right.” A new voice adds, “We need to get the heck out of here so Lotor can blow this ship up already!” 

 

Keith frowned. Lotor was gonna blow the ship up? But wasn’t he on their side now? Why did he want to blow them up? 

 

His confused thoughts were cut off when he realised that the new voice - he knew that voice. Whose voice was that - was talking to him.

 

“Keith,I’m gonna have to pick you up and carry you to my lion, okay? I’m so sorry, but this is going to hurt , no matter what we do.”

 

Oh, it was Hunk. “ ‘S fine.” Keith slurred. “Jus’ do it.”  

 

“Alright, here goes.” 

 

Hands slipped under his legs and around his shoulders. The movements aggravated every one of his injuries. He tried not to scream as he was lifted off the ground, but he was far from successful.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” he hears Hunk say as they start moving. “The lions aren’t far, I promise. I’m sorry.”

 

Keith’s pretty sure he passed out for a bit after that, because the next thing he knew he was being lowered down to the ground again. His head was still pounding, and his arm was still on fire, but now there was also a purring in his head. 

 

It was unmistakably the Red Lion.

 

“Okay, apparently Lance is flying you to the Castle.” Hunk said, “See you back there.”

 

Keith barely registered what was said, though. He was too busy listening to Red.

 

Red’s presence in his mind was like a warm hug. Like being wrapped in the warmest of blankets. It was the safest feeling he’d ever experienced. A feeling he only ever experienced with Red. 

 

A wave of affection washed over him from Red, an assurance that he would be alright, and encouragement to rest. 

 

And so he did. 

 

When he woke, he was stumbling out of a cryopod and into Shiro’s arms. 

 

It was very disorienting when the last thing he remembered was falling asleep with Red’s presence warm and comforting in his mind.

 

“Hey.” said Shiro, “How’re you feeling?”

 

Keith took a moment to take stock of himself. The first thing he noticed was that his arm was no longer on fire. His head also wasn’t pounding anymore, and his ribs weren’t screaming. Besides his legs being a little wobbly from the cryosleep, he felt totally fine again.

 

“Much better.” he answered with a relieved smile.

 

“I’m glad. You gave us quite a scare when you lost consciousness and we couldn’t wake you again.” Shiro answered.

 

“Sorry.” Keith answered automatically.

 

Shiro smiled and ruffled Keith’s hair. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

 

Shiro pulled away to allow the others to come in and hug Keith too. His heart twinged. He’d missed them.

 

He was a little surpised to spot his mother there too, although she was hanging back from the rest of the group. She gave him a tight smile when his eyes met hers though. 

 

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in his arm.

 

“Ow!” he said, looking down just in time to see Pidge pull her arm away from where she punched him. “What was that for?”

 

“Duh, for not telling us that you found your  _ mom. _ ” Pidge answered, gesturing wildly in Krolia’s direction.

 

“Yeah, what gives, Mullet?” Lance added, “Are we just not important enough for you to tell us something as huge as that, or what?”

 

Keith felt his eyes go wide and he raised his hands to chest height, palms out. “No, that’s not it. We met like two spicolian movements ago, and it’s been mission on mission since then. I wanted to tell you guys, I just really didn’t have time to.” Not to mention that he was still getting used to the idea of actually having a mom, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud, especially not with her right  _ there. _

 

“She’s barely left the pod room since you got out.” Pidge informed him in a whisper. “Honestly, she reminds me so much of you it’s downright eerie.”

 

Hunk nodded along, “Totally.”

 

“Well, I mean, she is his mom.” Lance added.

 

“Alright everyone, let’s give Keith some space.” Shiro cut in, shooting an amused look at all of them, “I’m sure Keith’s hungry. We can fill him in on everything that happened from our side over dinner.” 

 

Keith shot Shiro a thankful look, and Shiro answered with a knowing wink before ushering the other paladins out of the infirmary. “We’ll see you in a little bit.”

 

Keith nodded and watched them leave until it was just him and his mom left. Once they were alone, Krolia finally approached him. 

 

She looked like she wanted to hug him, but wasn’t sure if he would accept it, so she touched his arm instead.

 

“It’s good to see you awake again.”

 

Keith nodded, “Likewise.”

 

Krolia gave a small smile even as she pulled her hand away from Keith’s arm. He found that he immediately missed the touch.

 

“Your friends are interesting.” She commented. 

 

Keith smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, they are. But they’re good people.”

 

Krolia nodded. “That I don’t doubt. They’re very protective over you, which I  can appreciate. You miss them, don’t you?”

 

Keith sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

 

His mother hummed. After a moment, she added: “You called me mom. Back on the ship.”

 

Keith flushed. His memory of everything after hitting his head is kind of blurry, but he does have a vague memory of trying to ask Keith where his mom was. It was the first time he’d ever called her that. He normally just called her Krolia, and she didn’t expect him to call her anything else. 

 

Keith rubbed at the back of his neck and shrugged. “I guess I did.”

 

His mother smiled, fuller this time, and Keith couldn’t help thinking that she looked beautiful when she smiled.

 

“I don’t expect you to start calling me mom, now. It just felt nice, to hear you call me that. Even if it was while you were concussed and in pain.”

 

“Right.” Keith said, suddenly very awkward.

 

Krolia reached out to brush some of Keith’s hair out of his face, her smile softening as she did so. “Come, I do believe your friends are waiting for us. And I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

 

Keith’s stomach growled in reply, causing him to flush further as his mother laughed. 

 

As he lead her out of the infirmary and to the dining area where his friends were waiting, he thought that it was kind of nice to have a mom that actually seemed to be interested in him and his life. Maybe someday he would start calling her that more often. 

  
  






	2. Chapter 2

After eating dinner with the paladins, Keith excused himself, saying that he was tired from the healing pod and wanted to take a nap before returning to the Blade of Marmora with Krolia. It wasn’t a complete lie - he was tired - but he wasn’t going to take a nap. There was someone he needed to see before he left again. 

While they ate, the others told Keith what happened while he had been fighting that giant Galra. Apparently Red had alerted Lance to Keith being in trouble. He and the others had already completed their part of the mission, so the whole team raced to Keith and Krolia’s location. Allura and Shiro took on the giant - who apparently was not the same one as on Beta Traz - and Lance and Hunk took care of any backup that came while Pidge took care of Keith. 

Once all the enemies had been taken care of, Hunk grabbed Keith and they hightailed it out of there. The plan had been for Hunk to take Keith in Yellow, and Lance to take Krolia in Red. But Red had insisted that Keith fly with them instead. The lion flat out refused to fly without Keith (according to Hunk, Yellow felt very put out that Red did not trust them to take care of Keith).

Which was why, instead of taking a nap, Keith was going to see the Red Lion. 

He’d felt the lion’s presence in the back of his mind ever since he woke up, although not as strongly as he used to, or as he had when he’d been rescued, but more strongly than he had in months. The moment he walked into the hangar, he felt Red’s presence in his mind surge up in his mind as strongly as the first day he connected with her. 

A wave of fondness from the lion enveloped Keith like a warm hug, and a soft smile unfurled on his face. 

“Hey, Red.” he said. coming to a stop at one of her enormous front paws, “I missed you.”

Red responded by lowering its head and opening her mouth to let him in. 

Sitting down in the pilot’s chair was like coming home, and before he knew it, Red was flooding him with thoughts and feelings. From them he could feel that his lion has missed him too, and he could tell how worried Red had been about him. There was even a bit of a scolding tone in there for all the times he’s gotten into trouble in the past months. Keith couldn’t hold back a little chuckle as he picked up on that. 

More feelings washed over him, and he could tell that it was difficult for Red not to come after him when he was in trouble. 

That surprised him. In fact, the very fact that he was sitting in the Red Lion, having this mental conversation, came as a surprise to him. When he’d left Voltron to join the Blade of Marmora instead, he’d never expected either of the lions he’d piloted to still want a bond with him. Especially not Red, who had bonded so easily with Lance when Keith had to pilot the Black Lion.

Red’s reaction to Keith’s thoughts was immediate. The lion didn’t use words, but she let Keith know - in no uncertain terms - that he was her true paladin. Just because Red let Lance pilot didn’t mean that Keith was no longer a paladin. Red was willing to wait for Keith until he was ready to come back. 

A soft smile unfurled on Keith’s face as the thought filled him with warmth. But then he frowned. Red seemed so sure that he would come back, but Keith wasn’t so sure. 

The feelings that flowed from Red then were complicated but gave the general idea that something was off with Voltron, and had been since Shiro had disappeared from the Black Lion.

Keith’s frown deepened. That was incredibly vague and disconcerting. 

Fondness washed over him from the lion, followed by the thought that Red suspects the Black lion knows what’s wrong, but hasn’t shared it with any of the other lions.

Keith wondered if Shiro knew what the problem was then.

The answering thoughts from Red were uncertain, but Red thought that Lance definitely was beginning to figure it out. 

“Lance?” Keith questioned, “Really?”

Red gave him a mildly scolding mental nudge. Keith might be Red’s true paladin, but Lance wasn’t too bad of a red paladin himself, even if he was truly Blue’s paladin. And he was smarter than he let on. 

He knew Red wasn’t wrong. 

“Alright, I’ll speak to him before Krolia and I leave.” Keith said.

Red’s approval washed over Keith, accompanied by a wave of warmth of affection. Then a questioning nudge, asking about Krolia.

Keith hesitated a moment, and then opened his mind to Red on the topic of his mother, letting all his mixed emotions about her flow into the bond. When he was finished, he felt lighter, more certain and settled. Red was a good listener. 

An air of smugness emanated from the lion, followed by the thought that Red liked Krolia. 

“Why?”

Red replayed one of Keith’s own memories for him, of the first time Keith met her, of what she did to protect him. The memory was coloured with Red’s approval. Anyone who protected Keith was in Red’s good books apparently.

Keith snorted. “It was good to talk to you again, Red. Look after everyone for me until I come back, okay?”

Red’s response was immediate and confident. Of course she would, did he expect anything less?

Keith smiled.

Once he exited the lion, he glanced back at her one more time. Sending his own affection at her one last time. She responded in kind, giving Keith the equivalent of a mental hug. 

Then Keith squared his shoulders, and went to find Lance.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I use this as an excuse to indulge in my craving for Keith and Krolia bonding awkwardly? Why, yes. Yes I did. :)
> 
> Like my work? Please consider [buying me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/W7W3KRCZ) :)


End file.
